Lydia Ko has made a lot of changes over the past few years when it comes to coaches, caddies and equipment. But it was her initial break with coach David Leadbetter that really made headlines, when Leadbetter detailed the disintegration of their relationship on his website and placed a lot of the blame on what he believed was the over-involvement of Ko’s parents, Gil Hong and Tiny Hyon.
“We honestly felt that if the decision was left entirely up to her, that she would still be with us,” Leadbetter wrote on his website at the time.
Now, the latest addition to Ko’s team, coach Ted Oh, is refuting the pervasive allegations that Ko’s parents are overbearing.
In an interview with New Zealand’s Radio Sport, Oh described Ko’s parents as “more supportive than anybody.”
“I’m not trying to start a controversy but what I’ve experienced is so good so far,” he said. “I’ll be on the range in 35 degrees heat and her mum will call me over and say ‘why don’t you go back to the clubhouse, it is too hot out here’. They are so supportive. I never experienced that (interference) really don’t understand what he (Leadbetter) was talking about.”
Ko ended a nearly two-year winless drought in April, capturing the LPGA Mediheal Championship with an eagle in a playoff.
“After the (Mediheal) win we were a little bit less tense,” Oh said. “Before the win you know it was very tense. Now we are joking around more, she is in a better mood — we do have the next goal, a major, although we never talk about it.”
